Frank Herman Nouble (born 24 September 1991) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a striker for

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

. Nouble started his career with the

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

before signing for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. While at West Ham, he was loaned out on seven occasions. Nouble made five appearances for

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

before signing for

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

in 2013. After 18 months at Ipswich he was loaned to

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

and in January 2015 signed for the club on a free transfer. In June 2015 he moved to China to play for

Tianjin Songjiang Tianjin Tianhai F.C. (; ;) was a Chinese football club. The team was based in Tianjin. History 2006-2010: Formation and League Two On June 6, 2006 the Tianjin Binhai Holdings Limited company would form a new football team based in Hohhot call ...

, returning to England in October 2016 to sign for Gillingham. He then had a short spell with

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

before joining Newport County in July 2017. He signed for

in June 2018. In August 2020, he joined Plymouth Argyle. In June 2021, he re-signed for

. Nouble has played international football for England at both under-17 and under-19 levels.

Club career

West Ham United

Born in

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, to Ivorian parents, Nouble started with

football at under-12 level and was a regular in their youth team for the 2007–08 season. He made his Chelsea

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

debut in November 2007. In July 2009 he rejected the offer of a professional contract with Chelsea and on 21 July signed a five-year contract with

for an undisclosed fee. He made his

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

and West Ham debut in their 2–0 away win against

on 15 August 2009, coming on as a substitute for Carlton Cole. His first league start for West Ham came on 17 January 2010 in a 0–0 draw, away against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. He joined

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

on an initial one-month

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

deal on 8 February 2010. He made his debut on 9 February 2010 at home against

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

and made three appearances in total for West Bromwich Albion. He then joined

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

in March 2010 on a one-month emergency loan deal as a boost to Town's striking options due to injuries to

Billy Paynter William Paul Paynter (born 13 July 1984) is an English former professional association football, footballer and coach who is now head first team coach at club Runcorn Linnets F.C., Runcorn Linnets. In a 17-year professional career in the English ...

and Vincent Pericard. He made his debut for Swindon on 20 March against

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

. In April 2010 his loan was extended until the end of the 2009–10 season. He had made eight appearances for Swindon. In September 2010 Nouble joined Swansea City on a three-month loan contract.

Manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Brendan Rodgers Brendan Rodgers (born 26 January 1973) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Premier League club Leicester City. Rodgers began his career as a defender at Ballymena United, where he stayed un ...

said of him "...Frank has stature, presence, burning pace and wants to score goals. He has some Premier League experience and this is a chance for him to be part of a terrific squad and prove he can come and play and work well at this level." He made his debut on 18 September in a 2–0 home win against Scunthorpe United, and scored his first goal in senior football on 28 September 2010 in a 3–2 win against

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

, coming off the bench to score with his first touch of the game. Following growing injury concerns at West Ham, Nouble's loan was cut short in October 2010 and he returned to Upton Park. In January 2011, Nouble signed for

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

on loan until the end of the 2010–11 season. He made his debut the following day in a 2–0 win against

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

. In March 2011, Barnsley manager

Mark Robins Mark Gordon Robins (born 22 December 1969) is an English football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Coventry City in the EFL Championship. As a player, he was a striker and is best known for his time in the Premier Leagu ...

decided not to extend Nouble's loan with Barnsley and he returned to West Ham. On 11 March 2011, Nouble joined

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

on a month-long loan. He made his debut for Charlton in the 0–1 home defeat against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

on 12 March 2011 and scored his first Charlton goal on 19 March in their 2–1 away defeat against

Dagenham and Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as ...

. On 15 September 2011, Nouble signed on loan for Gillingham for an initial one-month period, scoring on his debut as the Gills won 6–1 at

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

. Gillingham manager

Andy Hessenthaler Andrew Hessenthaler (born 17 August 1965) is an English football manager and former player who is head of recruitment at club Gillingham. He began his career in non-league football and did not turn professional until he joined Watford at ...

praised Nouble saying, "He looks good. He's hungry and young and has decent pedigree with his Premier League experience and gives us another option." After a successful first month his loan deal was extended by a further month. His loan was then extended by one final month until 17 December. On 31 December 2011, Nouble scored his first and only goal for West Ham at

Pride Park Pride Park is a business park on the outskirts of the city centre of Derby, England. Developed in the 1990s, It covers 80 hectares of former industrial land between the River Derwent and railway lines. Pride Park Stadium and Derby Arena are both ...

in a 2–1 defeat to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

. Two days before the January 2012

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

closed,

club

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

made a bid for Nouble, which was accepted by West Ham United but rejected by the player. In March 2012 Nouble joined Barnsley for a second loan period, on a one-month loan deal. At the end of the 2011–12 season, Nouble was released by West Ham when his contract expired.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 22 June 2012, Nouble signed for

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

as a free agent, signing a two-year deal. He scored his first and only goal for Wolves against

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

on 30 August. Nouble was rarely utilised, making just five appearances before his stay at Molineux came to an end.

Ipswich Town

On 8 January 2013, Nouble signed for another Championship club when he joined

for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £25,000, signing an eighteen-month contract. He made his debut on 12 January, in a 0–0 draw against Cardiff City, and scored his first goals when he scored twice in a 3–0 win over

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

on 16 April 2013. During his year-and-a-half with Ipswich, Nouble made 60 appearances, most of which came from the substitutes bench, and contributed five goals.

Coventry City

On 1 September 2014, Nouble signed for League One club

on a short-term loan from Ipswich until January 2015. He made his debut and scored his first goal for Coventry against Gillingham on 5 September 2014, a game which Coventry won 1–0. On 7 January 2015 Nouble was released from his contract by Ipswich Town and signed a 6-month permanent contract with Coventry City two days later. He was released by Coventry at the end of the 2014–15 season.

Tianjin Songjiang

On 15 June 2015, Nouble confirmed he had signed for

China League One The Chinese Football Association China League (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (中甲联赛), is the second level of professional football in China. Above League One is the Chinese Super League. Prior to the formation of ...

side

on a two-year contract. He scored three goals during his time with the club as one of three foreign players in the squad. On 31 December 2015, Nouble was loaned to fellow China League One side Nei Mongol Zhongyou until 31 December 2016 but failed to make an appearance for the club after falling out of favour.

Gillingham

In October 2016, Nouble re-joined his former loan club Gillingham on a short-term contract. He scored his first goals of his second spell with the club in a 2–2 draw with Brackley Town of the

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

on 5 November 2016. After three goals in 13 games, he was released by the club at the end of his short-term contract in January 2017.

Southend United

On 18 January 2017, Nouble signed a short-term deal with

until the end of the 2016–17 season following a successful trial. He made his club debut on 28 January as a substitute during Southend's 1–1 draw at

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

. He was released by the club at the end of his contract.

Newport County

On 28 June 2017, Nouble signed a one-year contract with League Two club Newport County. He made his debut for Newport on the opening day of the 2017–18 season, scoring the first goal in a 3–3 draw with

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

. On 26 August 2017, he scored a 13-minute

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a League Two match versus

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

, scoring the first three goals in a 4–1 win. He completed his season at Newport with his best return in a single season so far, ten goals in 52 appearances.

Colchester United

Following the expiry of his contract with Newport County, Nouble signed for League Two rivals

on a two-year deal on 8 June 2018. He made his competitive debut for Colchester on 4 August in a 0–0 draw with

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

. He scored his first Colchester goal on 15 September in their 3–0 win against

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

. On 28 April 2020 Colchester confirmed that Nouble would be released at the end his contract in June 2020.

Plymouth Argyle

Following his release by Colchester, Nouble joined League One club

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

on 3 August 2020. He scored on his debut, the winner in a 3–2 EFL Cup win against

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

on 5 September. On 1 February 2021, Nouble re-joined Colchester on loan until the end of the season. He made his second club debut on 6 February in a 0–0 draw with

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

. He scored his first goal of his loan spell on 14 February, and 89th-minute equaliser in a 2–2 draw with

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

Colchester United third spell

Following the expiry of his contract with Plymouth Argyle, Nouble re-signed for Colchester United on 18 June 2021 on a two-year deal. He made his third Colchester debut on 7 August 2021 in their 0–0 draw at

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

Leyton Orient (loan)

On 31 January 2022, Nouble joined

on loan until the end of the 2021–22 season.

International career

Having previously been capped at England under-17 level Nouble made his first appearance for the England under-19 side on 8 October 2009 in a 3–1 victory against Finland under-19 in a UEFA under 19 championship qualifying round game in

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. On 18 July 2010, Nouble scored twice for the Young Lions in their 3–2 defeat of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

in the

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply UEFA Under-19 Championship or the UEFA Euro U-19, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain and England ...

being played in France. He made eight appearances in total for the under-19s.

Personal life

Nouble's younger brother Joel Nouble, is also a professional footballer who plays as a forward for

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

. Nouble went to

Bacon's College Bacon's College is a co-educational secondary school and sixth form located in Rotherhithe, London, England. It was previously a City Technology College, but officially changed to academy status in 2007. History Founded in 1703 by Josiah Baco ...

in Rotherhithe, South London.

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *

Football League Two Player of the Month The EFL League Two Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the player adjudged the best for each month of the season in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of English football. Originally named the Football League Two Pl ...

: August 2017

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nouble, Frank 1991 births Living people Footballers from Lewisham English people of Ivorian descent Black British sportspeople English footballers Association football forwards England youth international footballers Chelsea F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Tianjin Tianhai F.C. players Inner Mongolia Zhongyou F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players China League One players English expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in China English expatriate sportspeople in China